


What We Deserve

by clarkespastlife



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 3percent, Canon Disabled Character, Clexa, Crossover, F/F, Netflix original, The 100 - Freeform, Trans Lexa, no bellamy, offshore vs inland, tension and espionage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-21 10:06:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10683105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarkespastlife/pseuds/clarkespastlife
Summary: Each year, hundreds of young adults are sent into the Process. Only 3% will pass and be given the privilege to live in the Offshore, a paradise away from their old life in the slums of a mountainous wasteland. They must prove that they deserve better through physical, mental, and emotional tests designed to push them to the limit...even to death.For Clarke Griffin, there is no option for failure. Her family has always passed. Her friends are with her, determined to pass for their own reasons.For Lexa Woods, revenge is the reason to pass. She must kill the man who took her first love from her, and fulfill her promises to the rebellious faction called The Cause.In a game of ever shifting alliances, where the stakes are so high, who will pass and who will fail?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This fic has been rattling around in my head ever since I binge watched 3% on Netflix. It really reminded me of the high stakes in the 100 and I thought it would be fun to explore what would happen if you dropped Clarke and Co. into that world. So here it is!  
> Some notes:  
> -There will be mentions of characters don't pass and get sent home, some of them will even die or there will be mentions of people dying.  
> -Clexa is endgame.  
> -While I drew a lot of inspiration from the characters of the 3% (their motivations, back stories, family situations, ect.), no one character is equivalent to characters in the 3%. In fact, I tried to blend personalities and motivations together to make the 100 characters fit into the world without changing too much about the people we already know and love. Let me know what you think of that, because I think there's a lot of interesting combinations I could have done and this is definitely a WIP.  
> -I don't have a beta reader and all mistakes are my own!

"Good morning, Lexa. The gates of the selection process are open. The estimated time of your walk is 37 minutes."

 

Lexa jerked awake at the cool female voice wired into her right eardrum. It paused before continuing, then began repeating the message.

 

".....please proceed to the testing site in an orderly manner. We thank you for your cooperation."

 

She groaned and threw her legs over the side of her bed. The wooden pallets, bits of cloth, and sawdust that made it up groaned and crinkled, sending a fine layer of grime into the air. It sparkled in the early morning sun coming through her window. The glass and metal wind chimes hanging from the frame twinkled and blew lazily in the breeze. She stood up, slipping her bare feet into her worn sneakers, which were held together with plastic bags she had sewn into the lining.

 

Lexa stumbled to the shelf near her bed, her mouth dry. At her movement, the voice in her ear stopped.

 

"I'm getting there," she mumbled to herself. She was still groggy from the night before, when her _kru_ had held a party to see her off before she started the Process. She quickly dressed in her best rags and headed down the stairwell outside her splintered wooden door.

 

There was a steam of people headed toward the stairs and cliffs at the far end of the valley that enclosed the Inland. Parents and babies, old hags and tired men watched from the shaded, garish alleys and doorways of her neighborhood. Some people whispered as this year’s group of 20-year-olds filed past like lambs to slaughter. Others turned away, and still others sneered and bid them good luck.

 

Anya caught up to Lexa about 20 minutes into her walk.

" _Hei_ , not so fast, _Heda_ ," she joked, dust kicking up around her booted feet as she matched Lexa's stride. She was taller, leaner, and more tan than Lexa, with badly dyed hair that was half brown, half blonde. A streak of red hair, like blood, framed the right side of her face. She wore a faded yellow shirt with the shoulders cut out, which met tattered black capris at her waist but were nothing more than strips of cloth wrapped around her calves toward the bottom. 

" _Heya_ ," Lexa responded.

"It's a special day. Just wanted to make sure you had something special before you go," Anya said, with a jerk of her head to a nearby alley.

They ducked out of the steam of people toward the shady opening. It smelled of piss and worse, but Anya checked to make sure no one saw them.

She pulled a necklace from her pocket, and Lexa's breath caught.

"Is that...?"

Anya, her mentor for as long as she could remember, nodded.

"I figured you might want to take it with you...you know, to remind you of-"

"Thanks," Lexa whispered, taking the necklace gently. Her eyes expressed all that needed to be said.

To her surprise, Anya hugged her close.

"Costia would be proud of what you're doing, _seken_ ," Anya huffed into Lexa's wavy brown hair.

Lexa did not say anything. She pulled away, and with a nod, she headed towards the stairs at the end of the valley. She did not look back.

 

On the other side of the sprawling, worn out city, Clarke Griffin was already awake and eating a bowl of brown rice and lamb with her hands when the message reached her.

"Good morning, Clarke. The gates of your selection process are open. The estimated time of your walk is 17 minutes."

She sat up from her wicker chair, wiping her greasy hands on her stained blue pants.

"Clarke! Did you hear it?!"

The blonde haired, blue eyed girl smiled and headed in the direction of the shout outside her window. Down below, her two best friends were waiting. Octavia, with her dark hair and tight braids, looked impatient. Raven, her hair back in her signature ponytail, was chewing on a toothpick and grinning. Clarke waved and headed toward the door, where her guardian was waiting for her.

"I'm headed out, Sinclair."

The man her mother had left behind to care for her over twenty years ago smiled. His dark, curly hair was clean this morning; he had probably used all his water rations to make it that way. He reached out and hugged her tightly.

"Don't come back to me now. You're all grown up."

"No need to worry about me," Clarke replied, tears stinging her eyes. This run down mansion was the only home she had ever known. She felt overwhelmed knowing that there was just a 3% chance she wasn't coming back at all.

"I'll say hello to mom for you," Clarke promised.

Sinclair bowed his head and wiped his dark brown eyes as she strode out the door and down the steps.

She knew her little brother was asleep in the upper bedroom, but she had already said her goodbyes. He would carry on her family name and line. She had no such obligations.

"Took you long enough," Octavia huffed as Clarke stepped out into the dusty street.

"Come on, let's go."

Clarke, as if on instinct, reached for the handles of Raven's wheelchair. She was the only one who could push the brilliant mechanic down the rutted, dirt roads without getting swatted away.

The hoard of people grew thicker, and the three girls had to fight for space to walk. Octavia easily elbowed anyone who got too close, while Raven's lame legs and rickety wheels warded anyone else away. The walls of the ramp up the side of the canyon, with the white, shining Testing Center at the top, loomed above them. Only the twenty year olds called for testing pushed forward.

The rocky canyon loomed above them. A slight trickle of water ran down the sheetrock, but never seemed to wet the sand and dirt below. The canyon zig zagged back and forth overhead.

 

Lexa started at a tap on her shoulder.

" _Heya_ ," the dark-haired girl beside her said.

"Ontari," she acknowledged curtly.

"Anya asked me to watch out for you," the short brunette said with extra emphasis.

"What did you do to get a false identification?" Lexa asked out of the side of her mouth. She was surprised. Ontari was one year older than Lexa and had failed her Process last year.

"That's none of your business. I'm gonna get there this year, though. Even if I have to cheat my way to the Offshore," Ontari said, determination in her voice.

Lexa couldn't see behind Ontari’s right ear but she still shook her head.

"They'll throw you out if they catch you with a fake chip. Maybe even kill you," Lexa admonished. She kept her voice low as they reached a higher tier of the ramp on the mountain.

"The Offshore wouldn't kill anyone. Maybe they'll even let me go, since I'm so determined. They admire perseverance," Ontari defended.

"Yeah, but they don't like stupidity," Lexa whispered back, "you should go home, it's too dangerous. You'll get us both caught."

"I'm not getting anyone caught. They'll let me pass this year," Ontari promised.

Lexa groaned internally. She tried to focus on anything else but Ontari’s bad ideas. She looked around at the other people who would be joining them. She saw a girl in a wheelchair and nearly scoffed. _No way she’ll make it_ , Lexa thought to herself...but then she saw another girl who was helping push the wheelchair over a rock.

The morning sun hit her clean blonde hair and shone in her blue eyes. Lexa felt like the wind was knocked from her. Lexa hadn't looked at anyone like this in two years, not since the letter saying Costia had died during her Process had arrived. She reached up and clutched her necklace, not able to comprehend why the girl seemed to be familiar. Costia's necklace dug into her palm.

She had to do this. She had to pass. And the girl with the blonde hair...maybe she would pass too.

Lexa was pulled from her thoughts as they reached the top of the ramp. Some others were catching their breath, or gathered in groups at the top. Lexa was surprised by what she saw, and paused to admire the view.

A large metal and concrete structure perched like a bird of prey at the top of the valley. Its asymmetrical shape stuck out like a beacon in the brown landscape. Their whole world stretched below, and the green, pink, blue, and orange mud and wattle houses of the Inland looked crude and ugly in comparison to the smooth architecture of this white metal structure.

"Come on, Lexa," Ontari said as she prodded her in the arm.

"Don't touch me," Lexa replied instantly. She hated being touched and Ontari knew that, but had never seemed to respect her boundaries. She shied away and pushed through the crowd to the huge metal door of the Testing Center. Ontari followed close behind but Lexa ignored her.

Inside the cool interior, everyone funneled down a single hallway. For most of the young people, this was the first time they ever saw someone from the Offshore. Testing Moderators handed them goggles that snapped over their eyes and instructed them to step onto the sonic shower for at least three seconds. Each person followed these orders without question.

The Offshore was always something of a mystery to everyone, but these heathy adults with their open sleeves on their left arm clearly showed the Mark that proved they were part of the 3%. They ushered the 20 year olds forward into a clean white room with lockers, benches, and several curtained areas. Moderators were here too, instructing them to remove their clothing and select new garments from a nearby clothing station. They were each given a tube that vacuum sealed their old, dirty, and ragged clothing inside.

Almost no one felt strange changing in front of each other. Bathing in the rain or in dirty public showers had never taught them shame. They fingered their new testing uniforms with awe. None of them had ever worn something so clean and soft. The shirts were blue, red, or yellow and seemed to be made of light, breathable fabric that conformed to their bodies. The pants were all a light blue and grey and seemed to be skin tight but not uncomfortable. Pure white cotton undergarments in several sizes and styles are also laid out in neat piles. Slip on shoes were underneath the table.

The Moderators helped collect the tubes of their old clothing and stuck them in clear pipes, where the tubes were sucked away.

"Your clothing will be kept for you. Please remember your tube number. If you are eliminated, you will come back here to return your uniform and retrieve your clothes," a recorded announcement repeated to several times.

A boy in the middle of the room was gathering his old clothes, saying loudly, “Numbers, number, fuck the numbers! I never want to see these clothes again!” Several people looked alarmed at his agitation and eagerness as he stuffed his clothes in his tube, but chose not to say anything.

Lexa shuffled past him took her selected clothing to a curtained off area. She didn't like changing in front of everyone for more reasons than one. She quickly stripped out of her old clothing. She pulled the men’s cotton underwear and a small sports bra on, feeling a slight giddiness in her stomach. She wasn't sure if she was nervous or thrilled at the newness of everything. If the clean red shirt she pulled over her head was anything like what she would wear in the Offshore, she would give anything to get there.

Just like she had promised the Cause.

 

Clarke helped a fussy Raven into her new clothes.

"These look ridiculous," she huffed.

"Actually, I think they're pretty nice," Clarke replied.

"Yeah, if you want to stick out and be spotted from a mile away," Octavia joked as she pulled a red shirt over her head. Clarke eyed the yellow one she had chosen and the blue one Raven was pulling at.

"I thought the point was to stick out. They'll notice us and let us pass," she joked.

"Maybe we will, Princess. You can do whatever you want to do, I just know I need to make it to Bellamy," Octavia said seriously as she collected her clothes and walked over to a Moderator.

"Can you believe Bellamy passed last year? She’s bolder than he is sometimes," Raven said. Clarke slid soft blue leather shoes on Raven's unresponsive feet, the result of a gunshot injury when she was a child.

"I’m glad he did. And I know we will too."

She smiled and pulled her own shoes on.

She looked around at the other candidates in the room. One girl with long brown hair emerged from the curtained areas and handed a Moderator her clothes. Clarke couldn't help but notice her braided hair and soft pouty lips. The girl's vivid green eyes met her own and she smiled. The brunette's face remained passive, and she ducked out of the room down the next hallway.

"Please proceed this way! All Candidates please step this way!"

Clarke grabbed the handles of Raven's wheelchair and pushed her toward the doors and down a short hallway into a large, open space.

The Candidates were nearly dazzled as they entered a hall filled with light from the high glass windows. It was mid-morning now and the sun reflected off the clean metal surfaces of the main meeting area. Catwalks, ramps, and stairs led to different doorways around the building, through which Moderators and other observers were hustling. Large carbon-glass screens hovered in the air, projected in different directions to be visible by everyone in the hall. The candidates huddled in a group on the bottom level, heads craned up and waiting for the announcements by the man in charge of the Process.

Everyone was talking in low voices among themselves, waiting for the screens to come on. They all knew the name Thelonius Jaha, even if they had never seen him. He was something of a godlike figure to the young Candidates: he set up and maintained the tests. He was the one who decided how far they got and why. He looked for certain traits, ideas, and actions that would prove them worthy to go to the Offshore. In short, he WAS the Process.

When he walked out onto an elevated balcony, the large open space fell silent in anticipation. His dark face and close cropped black curls were projected onto all the screens in the room. A benevolent smile lit his face as he addressed them.

“3%.....Only 3% per cent of you candidates will become the select group of heroes heading to the Offshore, where the Founding Couple created the perfect world. Where there is no injustice, everyone gets an equal chance, and the place they deserve.” Jaha opened his speech, sending shivers down the spines of everyone in the room. His voice, with a strong baritone and something like religious zeal, made them hang on his every word. “Offshore, or Inland, or as some call it, Their Side, or Our Side…this Process ensures that only the best among you will enjoy life there,” he continued.

The screen cut from his face to a map: an aerial view of the short distance between the Inland and a tiny circular island that was the Offshore. A white circle and line measured the distance, seeming to taunt them with how close and yet how far away it really was.

Jaha continued, “As I’m sure you’re aware, envy and resentment have led to the rise of opposition groups who, in the name of a false and hypocritical equality, and by disseminating Populist ideas, aim to destroy everything we have achieved. BUT! They have always failed and will continue to fail. And so…..Welcome to the Process. Welcome…” They all heard Jaha’s recorded voice in their ears from their ear chips, saying their names.

“Welcome, Clarke,” sent a shock through her, forcing her to look to the floor in obedience. “I hope that you will do your very best, Clarke,” came his next encouraging words. “And that you trust the Process, Clarke, because all these years of sacrifice can be rewarded right here,” he concluded, heading into the end of his speech.

“Remember, you each create your own merit. And no matter what happens, you deserve this,” he said, and everyone in the hall couldn’t help but smile, feeling their spirits soar. “This is a good time to express your gratitude. Repeat after me: We are grateful for the chance…(and here all the Candidates echoed, without thought)…for a better way of life…and so we thank you.”

He smiled once more, dipped his head, and was gone from the balcony.

“Damn, he’s intense,” Clarke heard Octavia mutter.

“Yeah, tell me about it. That was a good speech, though,” Clarke mused, looking around the sea of bodies as small talk bubbled around them. The Moderators left their posts up on the balcony and walked down to get everyone and move to the next stage.

 

Lexa listened to Jaha's speech with disgust, trying to keep her face passive when he whispered encouragement in her ear. She moved her lips when he asked them to thank him, but she did not speak aloud…she wouldn’t thank him for the deaths that she knew resulted from his culling. The people who were turned away, the people who mysteriously never returned. Like her Costia. Lexa vowed to kill Jaha. Vowed to avenge the girl who left last year and didn't come back "due to an unfortunate accident." Lexa knew better. Knew that he had killed her.

The Cause knew it. And she knew it. Anya and the old man with the wooden face had picked her up out of the dirt when she found the letter confirming her death. "They took Tris, too," Anya had whispered. She had failed her own Process years before. But at least she had come back. No one understood why these "accidents" weren't a big deal. But Lexa knew it was because they didn’t give a shit about the poverty and suffering in the Inland. It had made her harder, knowing that she was trash to them until some arbitrary tests would prove her worthy. Until she was in the 3%. Then she would strike at the opportune moment.

 

Once the speech was over, they were escorted to a door on the right and then down a long hallway. A recorded announcement spurred them gently along. “Candidates, please proceed to the interview rooms. Thank you,” the cool female voice said.

Clarke, Raven, and Octavia tried to stay together, but Clarke found herself being pushed aside. Raven was wheeling herself along, when a couple girls began offering to help her. Octavia tried to head them off, but Raven rebuffed them loudly. “No, listen to me, I don’t need help. I can get there on my own. Let them see I don’t need help!” The well-meaning girls apologized, but the damage was done. Raven’s face was stormy as Clarke caught up to her.

“Hey…you ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” Raven said shortly.

“Look if you don’t want me to push you anymore, that’s fine, I-“

“You know what, Clarke, maybe I don’t. Maybe from here on out, I have to prove that I deserve to go to the Offshore, wheels or no wheels.”

“You’re right,” Clarke replied, “and I’ll go with you. Just in case.”

Raven couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, alright, Princess. You just rest your little arms, I got this.”

They couldn’t help but chuckle a little, the tension in the air finally lifted. Octavia caught up to them and they faced the interviews.

The hallway opened into low ceilinged room with rows and rows of cubicles. A tall carbon screen divided each station, and Moderators were waiting to direct them to their seats. There weren't enough stations for all of the Candidates to interview at the same time, and it was obvious that many of them wouldn’t even make it past this stage. 

Clarke waited her turn after following Raven to an empty station, moving the chair that was there out of the way for her. When she sat down for her own interview several seats away, the women across from her sneered.

"Clarke Griffin?" She asked.

"Yes, that's me," she stated clearly.

"Let's start with some preliminary questions, and then get into discussion. I have some coins in a bucket. I choose several them and divide by 5. I subtract 154 from the result and got 6. How many coins were there originally?"

Clarke smiled at the simple question. "800," she quipped, leaning forward. The woman was trying to catch her off guard. She could see stats on the carbon screen but they were blurry from her side, so she couldn’t quite make them out. Clarke wondered what it said about her, what it knew. She laid her hands on the table, spreading her fingers. The table felt warm. A bio-sensor was giving readings to the woman, she assumed.

Nearby, a boy was dragged from the hall. "Let me do it again! I'm worthy! I'm worthy! I'm in the 3%! Please!"

The woman appraised Clarke. "You name seems familiar. Do you have a big family?"

Clarke smiled, not caught off guard by the small talk.

"My parents had me when they were 18. Then my little brother, Aidan, at 19. Then they passed their Process. They're in the Offshore."

The woman leaned back in her chair. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure. They never came back. And I never got a letter saying otherwise."

"Communication between the Inland and Offshore is difficult. Do you think them passing makes you special?"

"Sure. But I want to pass on my own. I want to help them in the Offshore."

"What do you mean?"

"They ran a clinic. Our whole family did. We help people, and they help us."

"You want to keep helping people? Maybe do some medical research?"

"Definitely. I can learn things in the Inland, but I know the Offshore helps people. I want to make people walk again, or see if they're blind."

"You seem to think you're very qualified."

"I suppose so. But only in comparison to my peers. Maybe I don't know anything at all, yet."

"That's good. You pass. You can move onto the next stage."

Clarke grinned. Too easy.

"Thanks a lot," she said, heading toward the exit back to the main hall.

 

Lexa stared down the man interviewing her. He had asked some random geometry question, and when she got the answer right, she clutched her necklace. He noticed, and she placed her other hand on the table top. It was a bio sensor, she knew. He could see all kinds of information on his carbon screen that was invisible from her side.

"Is that a special necklace?" He inquired.

"Y-yes..." Lexa stuttered. This part was important, she knew. "My girlfriend left it for me," she said quietly, looking down.

He leaned back, appraising her. "Girlfriend, huh? That's unusual."

"Not that weird. It's still the same kind of relationship that anyone else has."

"Something tells me yours was special," he said, using a leading question to asses her personality.

"We loved each other since childhood. Our parents signed us up for the Process together."

He smiled. "Yeah? And is she here?"

"No, she passed last year."

"Are you sure?"

Lexa was lying, but she covered it up by hiding fake tears. Holding them back.

"Yeah. She didn't come back. I have to join her."

“You know sometimes candidates don’t return for various reasons, unfortunate accidents or just simple choice. Do you still want to pass because of her, if she chose to abandon you? Let’s find out if she is there. What was her name again?"

“Costia. Costia Ferreira,” Lexa said, leaning forward and trying to read his screen backwards.

 The screen in front of him, reading his thoughts, pulled up information on his side. “Here she is. Do you really want to know?”

Lexa looked him in the eyes, then looked down.

“No, that isn’t the reason I want to pass,” Lexa said. She could tell she was going to be in danger of failing if she didn’t play this right.

“Well, then that necklace is worthless, isn’t it?”

She hesitated, fingering the strings of the necklace and willing tears to come to her eyes. This was a test. The most important test to get her to the next stage. She was lying and she was doing a good job. Like Anya said. _I got this_ , she thought to herself.

The Moderator sat back in his chair. “If you take too long, I’ll question your honestly and eliminate you,” he said bluntly.

She sniffed, looking at the necklace, feeling her heart break all over again and trying to hold back the tears. Then she pulled the necklace, feeling the strings that held it together snap from behind her neck. The shells and beads clattered as it fell apart in her hands. Setting her face in a hard line, she tossed the remains on the table. The last remains of Costia she had left.

"I want to pass for myself. If she's there, it's just a bonus."

The Moderator leaned forward, examining her face and folding her hands.

“Are you going to cry?” He asked.

She shook her head, not daring to meet his eyes right away. When she looked up, he was still giving her a searching look.

He touched his screen, a satisfied look on his face.

"You can move onto the next round of the Process," he said, leaning back with resolve.

Lexa finally let a single tear fall, then wiped it away. She knew there could be no emotion from here on out.

She stood up and pushed her chair out with her legs.

"You did the right thing, you know," the Moderator said. She turned slightly to look at him and the shattered necklace on the table. "The girl is dead."

Lexa wiped her face of emotion and walked away.

She headed to the door with shaky steps. She passed the girl in the wheelchair who shouted at the interviewer, "I want to pass so I don't have to live like my mother does! Drunk and slobbering on herself-that's not living at all!"

Lexa walked away, not wanting to intrude.

A moment later, squeaking wheels caught up with her. She held the door open for the other girl, who drove her lame legs into the door. "I can hold it myself, thanks," the dark-haired girl growled. Lexa let go and let her pass. Her blonde friend suddenly appeared as well.

"Hey Raven, wait up! Sorry, excuse me," she said, sliding through the half open door. She brushed against Lexa's front, her soft fingers accidentally bumping against the back of Lexa's hand. Thankfully, she didn't see the shiver that ran down Lexa's spine at the touch. 

Outside, there was an elevated catwalk with a thin blue carpet covering it, leading back down to the lower level. Those who aced the interview filed down it and toward another set of doors. It was still early morning, but the Candidates who had already failed were up above, being escorted out a different way.

Suddenly there was a shout that echoed off the metal walls and a wet thump on the granite floor. People at the front of the group yelled in surprise. A boy had thrown himself from a balcony above them. His bright red blood looked almost fake as he lay on the floor, his limbs askew at odd angles.

A few seconds later, Thelonius Jaha and another dark haired man ran toward them with several other helpers and medical staff.

"Please stay back! We'll take care of this!" said the man in charge of the Process. Lexa stepped closer and stood beside the blonde and her friend Raven. This close, Lexa could see that Jaha looked careworn, though it could have just been the stress of the moment. Her hands clenched in frustration as they took the boy away, hoisting him like trash onto a stretcher and pulling out towels and detergent to cleanse the perfect floors.

Lexa wondered if this was how Costia had gone. Did someone push her, did she jump? Was it something more sinister, something the tests had driven her to? She didn't want to know. She stole a glance at the girl next to her.

 

Clarke knew her face was white as a sheet and she felt queasy. The sight of blood had never bothered her before. It just seemed so...out of place here. _He could have gone home_ , she thought in horror. Not one of the 3%, but at least alive. It really did shock her that someone would take it that hard. She looked up. Maybe he was pushed. She didn't know. But she did vaguely hear the words of Jaha's helper.

"I'm Marcus Kane, head of security. We have councilors available if anyone needs to talk about this, please follow me."

No one listened.

“Don’t let this interfere with the most important day of your lives,” Jaha urged, putting up his hands to placate them. “Just keep taking your tests,” he said, as they walked around the pool of blood on the white speckled floor.

"The Process continues this way. Follow me," a young Moderator said as he pointed them to the other door they had been going toward before the incident. They shuffled after him, many of them still stunned by what had happened.

“He’s right,” Clarke said suddenly, in a voice clear and full of purpose, “It’s awful that this happened, but we have to keep going. Come on.”

Spurred by her words, the group began to push forward. From overhead, a recorded announcement urged them to step through a body scanner to complete their registration. They found themselves on one of the many ramps that led to a narrow hallway. Standing tall were two panes of thick glass through which light was projected. There was a rubber walkway in between, and Moderators showed everyone in front how to stand rigid with both arms raised for about 10 seconds while the scanner passed over them.

Lexa felt a little coil of nervousness in her gut. Anything that was scanning her whole body made her uncomfortable. While she figured that this was going to happen from what she had been told, she wasn’t sure of the machine’s capabilities to detect the things she was hiding. Luckily, it seemed that beam of light was only meant to read the identification chips in their ears. Several paces ahead of her, Lexa spotted Ontari. She knew right then that the girl was in trouble. She somehow had a fake identification or a slightly tweaked one. Lexa knew of an old “witch woman” who claimed to do such things.

The _Trikru-_ -of which she was the leader--had tried to get her to authorize profiting off people wanting to attempt the Process again. It involved some light surgery behind the ear with the implant everyone got when their parents or guardians signed them up for the Process, usually at a young age.

Most people just knew it was there, and never heard anything having to do with it until they were 20 and the time for the yearly testing was upon them. But recently, especially with the Cause trying to infiltrate the Process--and their recent success at getting someone to the Offshore, a lot of fakers had set up shop. Some of them botched the surgery entirely by injuring the person or damaging the chip. Worse, some just knocked people out and robbed anyone desperate enough to come to them. Lexa had refused to work with such people.

Lexa sincerely wondered which sort Ontari had gone to, and how it was going to turn out. She started moving toward the other girl, hoping to at least say goodbye before…whatever happened. She wasn’t sure why, as she was not particularly close to Ontari.

They had grown up on the same street, and played to together frequently as children. But Ontari’s mother, Nia, was a tyrannical parent at best, a downright abusive maniac at worst. She controlled her daughter’s movements and spied on her like a hawk. She was only allowed a certain amount of time out of doors, and wasn’t allowed to go to certain districts in the Inland. Ontari tried to be an obedient child, but somehow, she always ended up with bruises and cuts when she angered her mother for seemingly innocuous or downright imagined slights. The older Ontari got, the worse it seemed to get. Lexa had not really seen her much at all in the past few years.

Of course, Lexa had also largely set up shop with her _kru_ elsewhere when she was a teen and hadn’t lived in her childhood home--full of ghosts and memories as it was--for years. Hobos and greasy freeloaders had moved in, to her knowledge, and she hadn’t much cared at all. They had assigned apartment blocks, but people frequently changed homes; either way, guarded their territory.

Ontari’s cousin, Echo Winters, was standing in line next to her. Lexa didn’t know much about her, except that she ran in a rival _kru_. Echo seemed to have a haunted look to her dark eyes, as though she had seen too much before her time. Lexa understood that look well, even though she and Echo were the same age. She honestly hadn’t even noticed Echo much until now, because in a crowd of so many candidates she seemed to blend in. She was quiet but deadly, an experienced drug mule from the time she was a kid. Despite this, Lexa liked her well enough. She was not terribly bright, but she was fiercely loyal. Lexa never could persuade her to take up more honest pursuits in her gang.

Lexa was pulled from her reveries when Ontari stepped up to the scanner. The Moderator simply nodded, too absorbed in looking at a pad of information. Ontari held her hands in the air and Lexa was sure she could see them shaking. The light passed over her twice. On the screen, several pieces of information showed up on the second scan, including with her height, weight, place of birth, parent’s names, but no name was at the top of the digital identification sheet. The computer made a soft thunking noise, hesitated, and scanned her a third time. The machine made several more clinking noises, but finally, it displayed AZGEDA, ONTARI in bold letters. When the machine made a high pitched beep of confirmation, Ontari stepped out of the scanner.

Echo followed close behind, and her information came up with no trouble.

Lexa was surprised. It seemed Ontari really had been willing to do anything to escape her mother and pass the Process. She couldn’t even imagine how much it might have cost her to go to someone legitimate who knew what they were doing. Perhaps Echo had helped her, maybe by running drugs or trading other goods with her _kru_. She wondered what would happen if someone was found with false registration, but stopped that line of thinking almost immediately. She was sure it wasn’t a slap on the hand.

Everyone passed through the machine, until they were gathered on the other side. Lexa caught sight of the cute blonde girl speaking to her friends and drifted toward them curiously. She tried not to draw attention to herself and stood with her back to the railing of the platform they were waiting on. Finally, Moderators came to fetch them. Lexa immediately recognized the one who had given her the interview earlier, Cage, and followed close to him.

 

The whole group filed into a room with a low black ceiling. The walls seemed to be covered in black fabric, muffling all sound, and were only visible by inset lights from the ceiling. This room was filled with tall silver cubicles, each with a table in the middle. They were instructed to find a spot, with eight people to each station. Moderators helped direct and sort them.

Clarke found herself standing next to the striking brunette with the green eyes. In front of them was a basin of multicolored blocks cut in different shapes. A Moderator made sure they all had a spot. Raven was next to her, and Octavia had a station on the other side of the table. A girl with dark hair and fierce expression was beside Octavia. Other people joined their table at last minute when all the other stations were full. Their names popped up on a screen in front of them in bold letters.

Clarke realized that their names would often be displayed in the manner now that they were scanned and identified, and that the chips were almost certainly equipped with tracking technology and biosensors. She felt vaguely uneasy that they were being monitored closely and their names were being passed to Jaha…wherever he was. She chided herself internally for being paranoid, as she had nothing to hide.

Clarke exchanged a glance with the girl named Lexa Woods. Beside her the dark haired girl named Ontari Azgeda was also scanning the screens to learn the names of the others. Raven looked eager to start, and Octavia looked warily at a boy named John Murphy beside her.

A Moderator with blonde hair and a long face explained the test.

"This test is designed to test your fine motor skills, logic, and sense of geometry. It's very simple. You have a certain amount of time to make 9 cubes out of the pieces provided. When the table turns completely red, your time is up. If you fail to make the required number of cubes, you will be eliminated. Good luck. Begin."

He stepped out of the booth. Almost everyone’s faces were pinched with anxiety. Lexa, Clarke noticed, did not look worried at all.

A loud ring from over their heads signaled the start of the test; the table went from white to green and began counting down like a clock. Everyone grabbed pieces from the communal pot in the middle, pulling as many as they could toward themselves. 9 white boxes on the table appeared in front of each person and they all began frantically assembling cubes, then placing them on the squares.

They worked in silence, sometimes letting out small noises and curses of annoyance. The first few cubes were easy, but Clarke began to panic as the clock ticked down. Her heart pounded in her chest and the pressure made it hard to concentrate. She only had 8 cubes. She tried to find L shaped red pieces to complete her last cube, but nothing was fitting together right. The girl beside her was making them as if she did this every day.

The table began to turn red at the edges, moving toward the middle.  Everyone made sounds of panic as the red spread rapidly toward the middle of the table, overtaking the green. Clarke’s hands were sweaty with fear. She searched for the two pieces she needed to complete the challenge, but none seemed to be left on the table anywhere.

_No, I don’t want to be eliminated!_ She shouted to herself. She felt sick she was going to be eliminated, and so would others at her table. She glanced around, pulling at her hair and rubbing her face in anxiety. She saw John Murphy grab a cube from another boy and put it in his spot. A second later, the timer dinged.

"What the hell! He stole my cube! He fucking took it! He stole it!" the boy yelled in accusation. John Murphy grappled with the boy, trying to fight him away from his cubes that were lit up green to indicate that they were complete.

A Moderator stepped between them, glancing at the table. “Times up, you only have 8 cubes, I’m sorry, but you’re eliminated,” he said hastily.

“Motherfucker! He stole my cube!” The boy yelled in desperation. “Didn’t you see? He stole it, motherfucker!”

“Take him away, he’s eliminated,” the Moderator said, and some assistants pulled at his clothes, dragging him away. John Murphy shrugged, as if that was that.

In the shuffle, Clarke felt something bump against her hand. Curiously, she looked to her left. Lexa had 9 cubes and was slipping her a 10th under the table. The girl’s touch sent a jolt through her. Lexa’s hand was callused and warm; she had very long, thin fingers. Those fingers were holding a cube tightly to keep it from falling apart. Clarke quickly took it and set it down on her final square where everyone could see, completing her set. She silently thanked the girl with the green eyes for helping her. _But why?_ She wondered.

The Moderator began to walk around, eliminating a girl in their group who only had 7 cubes. "Maybe if I cheated I would have made it," she hissed loudly at John Murphy as they escorted her out. Another boy was also eliminated, but he made no comment. He stared daggers at Murphy as he walked out, but the blonde boy had a completely straight face and didn’t look the least bit perturbed by the swift turn of events. After all, he had technically passed.

Octavia looked pleased with her 9 cubes, as did the girl named Ontari. Raven, curiously, had one giant cube made of 8 cubes, plus one smaller cube. "You pass, you pass, you pass," the Moderator said to them as he walked around. When he got to Clarke, he also said she passed. She breathed a sigh of relief so hard it almost hurt her lungs. She wasn’t going back to the Inland after all.

He paused at Lexa, who had 9 cubes on the table...and two more in her hands.

"11?!" He said in surprise. "You pass, good work."

Clarke was dumbfounded. How had Lexa made 12? She only took credit for 11, but she had made 12 whereas everyone else had just barely made 9. Clarke was sure that this girl was not only a genius but also a person who was kind enough to save someone else in need. Clarke could hardly pick her jaw off the floor. Lexa smiled a secretive smile and set her cubes on the table.

"Please proceed to the door and the next area," the Moderator told them.

As they filed out, Clarke let Raven and Octavia go ahead of her and tried to get Lexa’s attention by reaching out and touching her arm.

 "Thank you," Clarke said quietly. "I was done for."

"Don't mention it," Lexa said.

"But-"

"Seriously, don't, they're always watching," the girl said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Cameras?"

"Everywhere. Jaha watches us."

Clarke frowned and decided not to press the issue.

"Your name is Lexa, right?"

"Yeah."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Clarke Griffin."

She extended her hand as the other Candidates moved around them to exit the room.

"I saw on it on the screen," Lexa said shortly, taking her hand. Clarke noticed again that her fingers were warm, and calluses ridged her palms. She was glad the testing room was dim, because she was certain her ears were red. Something about rough hands, hands that had seen work and hardship, made her want to know more about this girl. Lexa always seemed to look so serious, except for when she passed. Clarke found herself wanting to see the girl smile again, wondering if they would continue to pass together.

She realized she hadn’t let go a moment later, when all the other candidates had already left.

“Oh! Um, guess we better go!” she said, yanking her hand away and striding past Lexa in embarrassment.

They walked back out into the main hall together, a little stunned by the bright light. "Hey Clarke, over here!" she heard Raven call out.

Octavia and Raven were waiting outside the door, so Clarke and Lexa joined them and they introduced themselves. Raven and Octavia seemed happy to meet a new friend. All four of them followed the group up a series of ramps and onto an open platform in the main hall. They immediately noticed there were tables filled with food and bottled drinks.

"Please help yourselves to lunch, and congratulations on passing another stage!" said the voice of Jaha in their ears. They didn't need telling twice.


	2. What Have I Done?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to write this :/ I'll be continuing with this soon, now that I'm more able to write.

The food was strange, but delicious. There were mangos, ripe passion fruit, and many green vegetables they had never seen before. They were presented alongside jellied flowers and soft sugar cookies, mixed with various fruits, all of which were laid out on large trestle tables. The clear jelly didn’t have a taste, but it was cool and refreshing like water. The blue drinks they provided helped replenish much needed electrolytes and had a fruity flavor as well. A buzz filled the hall as the remaining candidates talked and laughed in groups, sitting on the tables or floor.  
In the shuffle of getting food, Lexa extracted herself from Clarke and her friends. Preferring to be alone, she settled on the floor with her back to a tall white pillar. She observed the other Candidates and the facility, categorizing possible threats and assets. She chose to eat her food in silence, trying to sit comfortably. A self-inflicted wound near her hip burned, but she knew she had to ignore it. She had gotten this far. It was going well, but she would need her strength.  
“Hey, how’s it going?”  
Lexa looked up in surprise as Echo sat down beside her.  
“Hello, Echo. I’m great, you?”  
“Starving. Can you believe they gave us all this? What a deal.”  
Lexa fought the urge to scoff. “Yeah, it’s pretty great.”  
They ate in silence for a moment, and Lexa craned her neck to observe the other candidates. She could see that Clarke, Octavia, and Raven had settled at a table together and were laughing about something as if they had no cares in the world. Lexa got a strange feeling looking at Clarke’s lovely face, so she decided to observe other people instead.  
“Hey, do you think Ontari is going to be ok?” Echo asked quietly.  
Lexa raised her eyebrows. “You know?”  
“Yeah…”  
Lexa waited for her to go on. When she didn’t, Lexa simply said, “She’s made it this far. And she has you here with her. So I would say her odds are pretty good. It’s possible that they simply don’t remember her from last year.”  
Echo nodded. “You’re right. She’s just, important to me, you know? She’s family.”  
Lexa chose not to say anything. She didn’t know. She didn’t have real family, not anymore. It was time to move past that.  
“Looks like she’s making friends with cheaters,” Lexa said, nodding toward Murphy who was happily talking to Ontari as they got fruit from the tables.  
“What?”  
“That guy. He stole a cube from someone else.”  
“Why do you care?”  
“I don’t. Just thought you should know.”

Octavia was loud sometimes, and Clarke had certainly seen it backfire on her before, but not like this. They had been joking about the last test, letting relief bubble up through them as they ate. Raven made fun of the way Octavia had kept grabbing the same piece over and over but not using it, and Octavia shot back that at least she hadn’t stolen someone else’s cube. They were sitting at a packed table, and a couple of hulking boys nearby heard her reply.  
“Who stole a cube? That’s just messed up!”  
“I should have, I barely made that last cube.”  
John Murphy walked by, on his way to the tables. Octavia shot him a dark look, “That’s Murphy,” she said, “He stole someone else’s cube and they got eliminated.”  
The whispers started then, spreading through each table like wildfire. In the time it took for Murphy to get a drink and walk back across the room, he had a target on his back.  
“Octavia, I don’t think you should have said anything,” Clarke said quietly. “It was shitty what he did, though.”  
“I’m surprised the Process allowed him to pass, actually,” Raven said, biting into a round red fruit. Apple, they had agreed it was, though none of them had ever seen one that wasn’t freeze dried in a ration pack from the Offshore.  
“I don’t get it either,” Clarke mused.  
Murphy turned away from the fruit table, as if realizing that everyone in the room was talking about him. Some people were whispering behind their hands, while others carefully avoided even looking at him. With his head held high, he addressed the crowd loudly.  
“Yeah, I hear you. Go ahead, keep talking about me. I don’t give a shit. I’m just really impressed how everyone here is so honest, so just. I just don’t get one thing. Why did none of you do anything? Those who were in the room, why didn’t you say something?” He pointed at Clarke and her friends, then at Lexa, who was sitting against a nearby concrete pillar.  
“Do any of you bastards know why?” he continued, “I do. I know. Because everyone is here to make it through the Process. Everyone. And everyone will do whatever it takes to pass. You understood that I did exactly what you’ll also do and will have to do. That’s all. And the most important thing is…if you continue thinking you are so superior, you’ll lose. And you’ll lose to me. And you’ll also lose to those who understand what’s at stake here. Get it?”  
He moved over to Clarke’s table, and started picking on the hulking guys sitting beside them. “What about you, big guy? Do you understand what it takes?”  
“Man, leave me alone. I don’t want any part of that.”  
“No, I really want to know your opinion! Would you really back down and accept elimination, without saying a word? Would you trust that it was fair if they sent you home? Huh? Is that right?”  
When the guy didn’t respond, Murphy clapped him on the shoulder as if he were an old pal. “That’s pretty stupid, isn’t it?” he taunted.  
“Don’t touch me, cheater,” The guy said angrily, pushing his hand away.  
“Oh you’re real tough, aren’t you?” Murphy taunted again, ruffling other boy’s hair.  
Clarke watched in horror as the guy and his friends jumped to their feet and began punching Murphy, and a crowd gathered as they knocked him down. She was up and moving as fast as she could, but it was over in a matter of seconds. Murphy didn’t fight back, just curled up in a ball. Even some of the nearby girls and other guys took a shot at him. “Loser! Cheating scum!” they shouted at him.  
“Hands off him!” Clarke yelled. Clarke felt Octavia grab her arm.  
“Wait, what if you get eliminated for fighting? Don’t!” Octavia warned.  
The bigger guys, muttering darkly, went back to their lunch. They watched as Murphy staggered to his feet and picked up his water bottle gingerly.  
Everyone cast their eyes to the ground, the hall going deadly silent for a few minutes. Murphy limped away, clutching his ribs and wiping his split lip on the back of his hand. He settled down with his back to a pillar and tore into a protein bar. The girl from the cube test named Ontari girl sat beside him; she was the only person who seemed to acknowledge his existence.  
“Come on, Clarke,” Octavia said warily, “There’s nothing you can do for him. He doesn’t want to be helped.”  
Clarke nodded numbly and turned away.

Lexa watched the conflict on Clarke’s face as Octavia stopped her from helping the boy who was getting beat up. It didn’t seem like she wanted to join the beating, but rather that she wanted to stop it. When no Moderators swooped in to save him or eliminate those who attacked him, it made one thing clear. Jaha didn’t care what they said or did between themselves, only that they passed the tests he had designed. It confirmed exactly what Murphy had said. Morality did not matter in the slightest, only the will to survive, to pass. Lexa mentally filed that information away until the proctors came to escort them away and clean up their lunch.  
Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.  
“Lexa? Echo? We need you to step this way, please.” Marcus Kane, the head of security, was standing behind her.  
“What—I don’t understand.”  
“Don’t worry, we just need to you come with us,” he said in a voice that said she couldn’t argue. Echo stood up, her face going pale.  
This cannot be good, Lexa thought. They followed Kane through a door, where several security team members were waiting. Before she knew it, they had escorted them away from the group of chattering candidates and down a narrow hallway with only one access door.  
“What’s going on?” Echo cried.  
“No need to worry, this is just for your safety,” Kane said. He nodded to the security team, who pulled out small plastic containers full of black goo from their pockets. They slipped on gloves to avoid contact with their skin.  
“What the hell is that?” Lexa asked in surprise.  
“Close your eyes, please. This will all be over with soon,” Lexa heard Kane command.  
The black liquid was cold and sticky. It glued her eyes shut and smelled like burning rubber. Completely blinded, she felt someone tugging at her hands, leading her forward. She felt the warmth of Echo beside her, and could tell she was panicking by her shaky breaths. Lexa felt like her other senses were somewhat heightened and she could make out the creak of several doors being opened and closed. They were instructed to duck into a small square opening where the air was warmer and tasted of dust and disuse.  
At last, they stopped in an area that felt bigger than a hallway. It was even hotter here, compared to the cool, sterile rooms of the rest of the Testing Center. Lexa was nervous. If this was about her being a spy, and she had a feeling it was, she would be in serious trouble.  
“I…I know this what this is about. You must have heard me complaining about that boy that cheated. I swear I didn’t mean it like that…” Lexa whined, trying to sound innocent.  
Kane peeled the black goo from her eyes and she blinked several times as the light seemed to blind her. She soon realized, however, that it was actually quite dim here, and just a few beams of late morning sunlight came from dusty windows to her left. Echo’s eyes were also uncovered. Traces of the black goo were still around their eyes in places, like war paint.  
Ductwork and discarded scraps of building materials littered the area. Coils of wire, reams of brown paper, and sheets of metal separated the area they were in to form a kind of partition. A table and three chairs were in the center of the wide area. It looked like they were under the center itself, or in an unfinished and forgotten part of it. On the table was a clear hourglass, filled with water and frothing white bubbles.  
This was the type of place you brought people to die. A place where there were no cameras, where the concrete floors and metal walls could be easily cleaned. Lexa felt her lunch sloshing in her stomach as Marcus Kane forced them to sit in two chairs across from him at the metal table. He took a seat and leaned back, clearly showing off the gun holster in the pocket of his gray jacket. He was trying to intimidate them.  
“Do you two know each other?”  
“Yes, we—”  
“Yeah…” They both started at the same time.  
Lexa let Echo talk after a brief glance.  
“Yes, we live on the same block.”  
“Ah. Where’s that?”  
“I live on 7th street, block 35, apartment 42.”  
“And you?” He asked Lexa.  
“Same street and block, apartment 12.”  
“Alright. I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent murder of one of the 3% in the Offshore. A radical managed to make it into the Process, pass all the tests, and then he attacked and killed someone. It was tragic, as I’m sure you can imagine. That man was a mole working for the Cause. We know another member of the Cause is going to try again this year and lives on the same street and block you do. That person has made contact with a Cause leader several times.”  
“How do you know all this?” Echo asked, leaning forward.  
Kane seemed evasive. He didn’t want to talk about it. Lexa had the fleeting thought that he might not have even agreed with the methods they used.  
“The fact is, we know one of you sitting here is a mole,” he stated, crossing his arms. “I just don’t know which one of you it is. I have three minutes to find out. If I don’t know by that time, the recommended procedure is that I kill both of you.”  
Kane flipped over the hourglass, and the liquid inside began to move from the top to the bottom. Echo and Lexa both began protesting at once.  
“Sir, there must be some mistake—”  
“I’m not with the Cause, I don’t—”  
“I would never—”  
“Believe me, we know each other, there’s no way—”  
“Right, I know it’s not possible—”  
“You gotta believe us—"  
They both were leaning forward, trying desperately to convince him; they wanted a way out of this that didn’t involve both of them dying. Lexa, for her part, didn’t even try to protest that her last legal address had changed some time ago. If it was down to that small detail, she might be able to exploit that, but in this case it would make her seem more suspicious.  
“Sit down, please, calm down,” Kane instructed. He couldn’t look them in the eyes anymore. It was easy to see he was on orders from Jaha, but killing two young girls was not on his list of things he wanted to do today…or ever. The three sat in silence for a minute, trying to find a solution, but feeling hopeless.  
“Is this a test?” Echo asked desperately.  
“No, I’m afraid it’s not,” Kane replied shortly. He looked at the ground, fiddling nervously with a communications ring on his forefinger.  
Lexa put her head down on the table, realizing the only option. She hadn’t been coached for this, not at all. But there was a way out, the only way she could think of. They had to believe that Echo was the infiltrator, not her. Somehow, there had to be a way to convince them.  
“I don’t know anyone from the Cause. I’m innocent,” Lexa said, picking her head up and turning desperately on Echo.  
“Well I’m not in the Cause either!” the other girl replied, turning to face her and gesturing wildly with her hands.  
“If it’s you, just confess it!”  
“It’s not me, it has to be you!” Echo defended. Lexa looked deep into her eyes, trying to shut off her emotions. This may be her only chance to get through the Process, and she was going to have to make sacrifices for it.  
“It’s not me, I swear it.”  
“Enough! I’m not here to hear you arguing with each other. What I need is a confession! Whoever is with the Cause, whoever believes they’re some kind of savior from the Process, this is your chance to save an innocent life. Because if you don’t confess, you’re going to die anyway, and you’re going to take an innocent person with you,” Kane said coaxingly.  
“Marcus!” shouted a voice from beyond the ductwork nearby. Through the random debris handing from the walls, Lexa could see the back of Jaha’s head as Kane rushed over to talk to him. The sound of machinery and air conditioning drowned out their words.  
“What are we going to do?” Echo intoned miserably, slumping in her chair.  
“Echo, please, if you’re with the Cause, save my life.”  
“I’m not with the Cause!”  
“Then they must have the wrong information!”  
“Of course they do!”  
They both looked at the hourglass, were the bubbles were separating from the water. Their time was almost up.  
Lexa grabbed Echo by the shoulders, her voice a ragged whisper. “Echo, listen. There’s only one way out.”  
“What do you mean?” Echo said warily.  
“We can attack Kane.”  
“We can’t do that, he has a freaking gun!”  
“Shut up and listen,” Lexa said, covering her mouth.  
“This is our only option. It’s you and me. Two against one. Use your training from your kru. And I’m telling you right now, as a kru leader, this is the only way. We kill him, and we escape. Get the hell out of here. Run away, I don’t care where. But first, we have to take him out.”  
“He’ll kill us!”  
“No, he won’t. I’ll give this signal,” Lexa punched Echo in the leg three times, under the table, “And when I do that, we attack him. Take him out. He’ll be all alone against us. Two against one, easy.”  
Echo took a few seconds to mull it over before she nodded tightly. Lexa hugged her, in an unexpected display of affection.  
“Were not going to die yet. I don’t want to die. Our fight is not over,” Lexa said.  
They sat back in their chairs, anxiously waiting for Kane to return.  
When he said back down, he looked at the timer. “Your time is up. Who’s going to confess?”  
Lexa and Echo looked at each other.  
“I’m not in the Cause,” Lexa said, then frantically punched Echo’s leg three times. She stood up, but Echo vaulted over the table, tackling Kane with a furious force. There was a bullet in her gut before she even hit the ground, and Kane lay dazed as his head hit the concrete floor.  
Lexa stared at her dead friend, stunned by what had happened. Stunned that someone who could have had a better life, if it wasn’t for this, was dead because of her. Someone who deserved better. All because she had to save her own skin. This was never what she wanted. She collapsed to her knees.  
Jaha heard the commotion from the other side of the ductwork and came running.  
“Marcus?! What the hell happened? Get up, man, get up!”  
The gun lay on the floor by Kane’s hand. Lexa realized she could take it, just end it right now. She could kill Jaha and Kane, and no one would know. She half-heartedly lunged for it, but Jaha got it first, then pointed it right at her. Kane stirred, pushing Echo’s limp body off himself.  
“I’m sorry you had to see that. Please, come with us,” Jaha said as though nothing had happened, gesturing toward the way out.  
A few minutes later, a shaken Kane put the black goo back on her eyes and led her away from that horrible room, out where it was cool and the air was clear. As they walked, he told her gently, “Listen, I know that this was….a bad experience. But you need to put it behind you. Pretend it never happened. Whatever you do, you cannot talk about the infiltrator, or I may have to do back on my promise and eliminate you as well. And I really don’t want to do that. Keep taking your tests and lie if you have to. I don’t want to hear about this ever again, am I clear?”  
“Yes, sir,” Lexa said in a small, quavering voice.  
A Moderator took her arm and led her back toward the chattering crowd. He peeled away the black goo and left her there with a napkin to wipe her face.  
As soon as she was alone, she collapsed. Through the clear glass that lined the walkway, she could see the candidates wandering around below her, waiting for the next test. Waiting for her. She was supposed to pretend this never happened. She had to pretend someone she knew wasn’t dead. She had to pretend she wasn’t complicit in murder. She leaned against a concrete pillar and put her knees to her chest.  
Lexa knew she couldn’t show emotion. Knew she couldn’t tell anyone. And somehow, she was supposed to face Ontari and tell her that Echo got eliminated or got sick and went home. She had never felt worse in her life, not even when kru wars broke out and people inevitably died on her command. This was different. This shouldn’t have happened at all.  
She sat still for what seemed like hours and wiped away the black paint-like substance with a napkin and her tears.  
When she was finally able to compose herself, she slowly walked back down to the area where everyone was gathered. Clarke was talking to a boy with dark hair, but immediately broke off the conversation when she saw Lexa.  
“Lexa! There you are!” She stopped short some ways away from the group when she saw Lexa’s face. “Did you get lost or something?”  
Lexa couldn’t speak, not trusting her voice to say anything. They stood looking at each other for a few moments. Lexa saw those blue eyes full of concern and was surprised. Few people had cared about her emotional well-being in her life, and certainly not since Costia died. But Lexa realized that Clarke’s concern was real, and her heart came up in her throat. She could hardly speak, but her hands inched to touch this girl, to feel the warmth of someone else if only for a second. Then she shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.  
“Lexa are you ok? What the hell happened? I saw you leave with the proctors.”  
She didn’t know, of course. She couldn’t know who Echo was. Lexa finally found her voice.  
“It’s fine. Everything is fine,” Lexa lied. She didn’t think she would ever be fine again.


	3. Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All candidates undergo a medical exam

The next task of their day turned out to be rather mundane. Lexa walked with Clarke, Raven and Octavia as the group was escorted to a long hallway with bright overhead lights. The doorway at the end read “Hospital Sector” in big red letters. The matter of Lexa’s strange disappearance was forgotten.

“He was right, though,” Clarke was saying, “We didn’t do anything to help. We should have spoken up.”

“I’m just pointing out that we could have gotten eliminated. It doesn’t matter now though. Murphy certainly made an impression with that little stunt. Now he looks like the victim, after blaming us all for being cowards,” Raven said matter-of-factly.

“I don’t like how it went down,” Lexa responded, “People could get hurt during the Process. It’s already started. Look how many people joined in to beat him up when he was defenseless.” She looked especially pale when she said this, Clarke noticed.

“We can’t let it get to us. If Murphy had it his way he would be the only one going to the Offshore. But Jaha is the one that decides, and he’s always looking for the best and most desirable qualities in us. He wants to see how our emotions and decisions play out,” Clarke mused.

“Yeah, I agree. It doesn’t seem right, but we’re not the ones who decide. Personally, I hope he gets eliminated soon,” Octavia said darkly.

An announcement overhead guided them forward and told them what to expect next: “The medical examination is a mandatory part of the Process. It is an important step for the evaluation of a future citizen of the Offshore. In order to continue the Process, you must be assessed as physically fit by our medical staff. If the machine beeps, please proceed to an examination room without delay or argument. Thank you.”

There was a large waiting area where the candidates were instructed to stay until their name was called. Frankly, Clarke wasn’t surprised that they were required to pass a medical screen among all the other tests.

Having learned a little bit of medical knowledge from Sinclair before she left, she had examined and treated people in the Inland. Most were not healthy. They starved regularly, relying almost entirely on rations from the Offshore. Food came in huge shipping crates once a month.

The workers who controlled the cranes at the edge of the valley were a tight knit group, essentially a gang. They cherry picked the best and most desirable food for themselves, and they controlled who got ration tickets too. The best items cost 10 tickets or more. Sadly, most families never got more than 30 tickets, one for each day of the month. Some people could grow fresh food on the rooftops of their homes, if they could afford the seeds.

The people of the Inland fought amongst themselves for food and water, while the Offshore withheld rations entirely if anyone tried to rebel against the false inflation the system created. The Process Center, abandoned for most of the year, sat at the only exit to the valley and had a series of gates and hidden security measures. No one had dared to attack or break through and leave the valley in almost four decades.

Once a year, adults over age 20 could sign their children up for the Process. The Process was the only way out, and the sign up was done through an automated voice system called The Waystation (many residents of the Inland couldn’t read, although some residents had long ago developed their own codes and languages). After a brief bit of ear surgery by an automated robot they waited until they were 20 to get their shot at a better life.

So here they were, in year 104 of the Process, young adults who had spent most of their lives fighting for resources. Many of them had formerly been part of gangs, called _kru_ s, formed by close neighbors to protect their resources. Clarke knew firsthand the violence that sometimes brought her patients to her. The medical exams they were about to undergo were no doubt necessary to determine if people could even survive the upcoming tests. If not, at least they got a free meal and a day inside an air conditioned building before being sent home.

Octavia left first when last names A-E were called. Raven was agitated, drumming her fingers against the arm of her chair and refusing to speak. Clarke took the opportunity to step away and speak to Lexa, who was standing nearby with her back to one of the railings. She looked relaxed, as if nothing could faze her, but her eyes were assessing those around her.

When her green eyes caught Clarke’s blue ones, the blonde almost hesitated. Lexa was beautiful, in a way that was completely effortless. Her jaw and cheek bones seemed to be cut from dusky stone, but her plump lips and long, slim fingers made her seem softer than she was. Clarke suspected for the first time that Lexa might have been a gang member in the Inland. She had the look of a caged animal in here, and Clarke couldn’t help but feel bad for her.

 “So, do you have a strategy?” Clarke asked in an attempt to make conversation. Lexa had seemed very upset earlier and she still had no idea why. She had a feeling the girl was used to playing her cards close to her chest.

Lexa raised her eyebrows. “I have a strategy for everything. If you don’t have one, you’ll be eliminated quickly.”

“You’re right. My strategy was to stick with my friends, no matter what.”

“That is a smart plan. The first test pitted us against each other, however. They might try that again. Other people can be your weakness.”

“Hopefully not. I would like you in my group; you did really well in that first challenge.”

Lexa paused to consider her words. “It sounds like you are making your own _kru_ , Clarke.”

Clarke smiled. This is what she was hoping Lexa would say. She also unexpectedly loved the way Lexa said her name with an audible click on the _k_ at the end.

“If it is like that, even though it’s completely against the rules of the Process, would you be mad?”

Lexa lowered her voice slightly, leaning close so Clarke could feel the brush her breath in her ear. “I led a _kru_ back home. It isn’t something you should take leadership of lightly.”

Clarke huffed. “I’m not. I know what I’m doing. I can make allies easily.” She glanced around the room at some people she wanted to approach.

“Then you had better be prepared to do what’s necessary,” Lexa whispered. Clarke shivered slightly.

“Clarke Griffin to Medical Scanner 3. Candidate Clarke Griffin, please proceed immediately to Scanner 3,” announced the cool female voice from the intercom. Several other names were called after hers.

“See you on the other side,” Clarke said, gently brushing against Lexa as she walked away. She tried not to think about the fact that she definitely had a huge crush. Or what sacrifices might be necessary to pass.

 

Lexa watched Clarke go through the scanner without incident and join Octavia. She could hardly believe the blonde was interested in some kind of alliance with her, but it unexpectedly made Lexa feel guiltier than she already did. Getting close to anyone here could get them killed, as she had already seen. Jaha and his goons were even more merciless than she thought. But since her goal was to blend in, hanging out with Clarke and her friends seemed to be the best way to prove that what had happened earlier was surely a case of mistaken identity.

She felt conflicted, like neither option was right. All she knew was that the choices would only get harder. There were plenty of ways to get eliminated or find herself under Jaha’s direct scrutiny again. She remembered what Anya had told her: stay away from him at all costs. As much as she didn’t want to be close to anyone, she also knew that Clarke tried to include her in her group of friends, and that felt good.

Not being alone for once felt validating. And in here, she wasn’t responsible for keeping others alive, since she was sure Clarke and her friends were more than capable of watching their own backs. What was more, Clarke was both beautiful and intelligent, and that was the scariest part. Lexa could feel herself drawn to her, wanting to confide in her even as her mind rebelled that love was weakness and getting involved was the worst possible thing she could do. Anya had told her this as well, more times than she could count. Her strategy of going unnoticed, however, was completely out of the question after what had happened to Echo.

She was deep in her conflicted thoughts when she realized she was the last one standing in front of the medical scanners. When her name was called, she walked into the correct one, trying not to let the worry get to her. She hoped she was physically healthy enough, because mentally she was feeling pretty shitty.

Her frame pulsed in green light, reflected in the glass screen as several numbers and data points popped up in real time. Then it beeped angrily and turned red.

“CANDIDATE RECOMMONDED FOR FURTHER TESTING” it read, and Lexa felt her heart drop. _Great_ , she thought _, what fresh hell is this?_

A gentle Moderator led her away from the scanner to a stark white door set against the back wall of the building. Lexa walked into the hospital area warily. A smiling, middle-aged blonde woman was holding a digital pad of medical information. Machines and contraptions of various kinds were placed next to a set of three beds. Everything was white and polished silver, so starkly clean that Lexa immediately felt uncomfortable.

“Please have a seat,” the woman said sweetly. She went to one of the computers and began flipping through several screens and scanning barcodes as Lexa sat gingerly on the middle bed.

“Your name is Lexa Woods?” the woman asked, checking a photo of Lexa taken by one of the scanners at the beginning of the Process.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

She was nervous, really nervous, that this doctor would discover the cut on her side, the pocket of skin that held her only way out of here: a small capsule full of fast acting and deadly poison for which there was no known antidote.

The Cause had given it her to use on herself if she was caught in a situation that might threaten her mission. She had an excuse ready for the wound she had made, but it didn’t make her feel any more confident in her ability to pull this off. But Anya was counting on her, and the people on the Inland who were organizing against Jaha and his perfectly groomed sycophants needed her to pass.

When she finished inputting data, the woman walked her through the first few tests, which included simple hand eye coordination and vision testing. She played a series of sounds on the computer, and asked Lexa to guess what they were. Once she was assured Lexa’s vision and hearing were fine, she did motor tests and reaction tests such as tapping her knee with a small rubber hammer. She asked Lexa to stand, touch her toes, jump up and down, and turn in a circle.

She also took a small plastic device and pricked Lexa’s finger, then slid her blood sample into an analyzer machine.

Satisfied, she asked Lexa to stand in yet another full body scanner. Lexa hesitated at this, but the woman encouraged her forward. Lexa had a feeling this scanner would be much more detailed and possibly give her away because of the metal capsule in her hip. She stepped in reluctantly as the woman took her spot behind a large computer. Lexa couldn’t see her, but the woman told her to just relax for a few minutes.

Lexa began to sweat nervously. The scanner felt like a giant eye scrutinizing her as it plunked and beeped away. Lexa felt like it was recording her whole life, taking her apart piece by piece, but the information wasn’t being displayed on the screen. It was a very unsettling feeling, knowing that the clothes she was wearing were probably meant to be scanned though as well, since they were given to her by the Process Moderators.

She shifted uncomfortably. She had to play this cool. The thought of running, somehow knocking the doctor out and escaping the room, crossed her mind. But she knew if she did that, she would be caught. She had to act like all the other candidates. The Cause was depending on her to blend in and make it to the final stages. They needed someone smart and resourceful to find out what had happened to the last candidate to make it that far and be the person on the inside at the Offshore.

She was nothing if not resourceful. She steeled herself, reminded herself of her personal mission to kill Jaha along the way, and waited for several long minutes. Finally, the machine powered down with a soft whooshing sound and Lexa stepped out.

The woman was totally absorbed in the information on her screen, and Lexa watched her while trying to keep a blank face. The woman clicked several things on the screen, and then swiped all the information onto her pad to transfer it. She also walked over to the blood analyzer machine and pulled the information from there. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“Please go sit back down, I need to discuss some abnormalities with you,” the woman said. Lexa’s mouth went dry at these words, but she took her spot on the middle hospital bed as the woman pulled up an ergonomic chair in front of her. She crossed her legs with a businesslike air, and checked her notes again.

“First of all, congratulations on making it this far in the Process,” the woman said.

“Ah, thanks. I’m happy to be here,” Lexa replied nervously.

“Great. Well, as I’m sure you know, candidates for the Offshore must be deemed physically healthy as well as mentally competent. I’ve been doing this for several years, so I can assure you I have seen many candidates come in here with a variety of health situations. But my readings are giving me a slightly elevated fever and white blood cell count on you. Would you care to tell me why that might be?”

Lexa decided to play dumb. “I’m not sure what that is. I’m perfectly healthy to continue the Process.”

The woman smiled thinly. “You can trust me, Lexa, to keep your medical information confidential. Your well-being is very important to us.”  
Lexa resisted the urge to snort. Did Costia go through this bullshit before they killed her? Lexa wondered. She decided to give this woman some answers to get the hell out of here.

“Well, I cut myself by accident a few weeks ago, on a shard of metal. Would that cause the blood, uh, problems?”

The woman looked intrigued. “Oh, yes, it would. Let me get some gloves. Can you show me where?”

As the woman turned away, Lexa again considered attacking her, but she knew she wouldn’t make it far. She was sure there were cameras and microphones somewhere, no matter what this woman said about privacy.

She stood up and carefully pulled up the hem of her shirt, right above her hip. The cut looked a little red; it was held together with black stitches and crusted with blood. The woman turned around and began touching it lightly with her cold, gloved fingers. “Did you sew this yourself?” she asked. Lexa silently prayed she didn’t press hard enough to feel a lump there.

“Yes.”

“How long ago?”

“Three…wait, four days ago? I think.”

“It’s healing well, but it may get infected,” the woman confirmed. She swabbed it gently with a soft cotton ball and alcohol. Lexa felt a slight sting before the doctor straightened and discarded her gloves.

“I’ll be giving you a strong antibiotic, and you’ll receive another when your tests are done. Since the Process only usually lasts for several days, and those makeshift stitches seem to be holding, I’m sure you will be fine until we can remove them,” she told Lexa, who sighed in relief.

The woman walked away for a few minutes to go a door labelled “Supply Closet”. Lexa tried to relax. She was glad the woman didn’t try to remove her stiches. That would have gotten her caught, or ruined the way she had purposely done them so they could be removed. The doctor returned with an antibacterial bandage and two large white pills. She fetched some water from a clear sink and watched Lexa take the antibiotics. Lexa marveled at the clear taste of the water. She had never seen it come out so clean from a tap like this. She was so fascinated she barely noticed the woman putting a large white bandage over her hip.

When the woman took her glass, she calmly asked, “You would tell me if that cut was a self-inflicted wound, wouldn’t you?”

Lexa froze. “What?”

“You said you cut yourself on some metal.”

“It was an accident, really. In the Inland, sometimes, metal sticks out of the concrete. From the buildings crumbling, or whatever. The woman frowned and Lexa continued, “I was walking around a corner when I saw a friend engaged in an intimate…conversation. I stepped back to walk the other way, and pressed myself too close to the wall. It stung, and I felt the blood, so I put pressure on it and got back home as soon as possible.”

The lie slid right off her tongue, and the look on the woman’s face showed she had relaxed, believing the story.

“That sounds unpleasant. I do have to ask a series of mental health questions anyway, so let’s talk a little longer.”

“I told you I didn’t do it on purpose. Why would I do that?” Lexa said, feeling her anger at the whole Process surfacing.

The woman looked perturbed as she sat back down. “I happen to believe you, actually, but these are questions we ask all the candidates we deem it necessary to talk to.”

Lexa bit her tongue in annoyance, not too hard, but enough to not make an angry retort.

The questions were leading, obviously crafted to make her answer in a way that would make her unfit mentally. “How often have you thought about death in the last two weeks?” and “how often have you thought about hurting others?” were some examples. She tried to act nonchalant, as if these questions were ridiculous, even though the truth was that she had thought about those things many times recently. She answered “no” or “never” to everything, though, and waited impatiently.

“Excellent. You have passed this portion of the test and can move on. Everything checks out, and your wound is taken care of.”

“Great,” Lexa said, flashing a fake smile she hoped didn’t look like a grimace. She hopped off the bed.

“Oh, one more thing, how do you choose to identify on your medical records? We noticed that you go by female pronouns, a female name, but your scans check out as typically male. That doesn’t mean anything of course, unless you…”

Lexa stopped dead at the door, the smile instantly leaving her face. “Please put female. Please. You have to understand…”

The woman smiled. “Don’t worry; your gender doesn’t matter in the Offshore. We accept all people, exactly as they are when they pass the Process. All this,” she gestured to the computers and machines, “is just a small taste of the medical equipment we could use to help you. Provided you become part of the 3%, of course.”

For a moment, Lexa was stunned. Was the Offshore really so enlightened that they wouldn’t care about why always felt out of place in her own body? She had dealt with feelings of isolation and confusion for most of her life. She knew others like herself, who longed for some type of surgery that could change them. But it wasn’t possible in the Inland, and Lexa had never wanted that for herself. People died in surgery with unsanitary equipment and poor supplies. Nothing there was like this white, perfectly clean hospital.

She turned away, muttering ‘thank you’ with some embarrassment. She couldn’t handle all this, and felt more painfully aware of her body than she had in a long time. She had come to terms with herself, and generally didn’t give a damn if people didn’t understand her. She had to focus on passing. She could not be distracted.

And she didn’t want their damn help anyway.


	4. Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The candidates try to solve a mystery.

“You will be placed into groups of ten for this test. Please stay with your group once we come around and separate you. Any complaints will lead to automatic elimination,” the speakers announced over the buzz of candidates who had just returned from the medical wing. Early afternoon sunlight shone through the level they were on now, a little higher than where they had eaten lunch. Some of the other candidates began shouting and hustling to get closer to their friends in the hopes that they would be placed in the same group. Clarke ignored them; she was standing with Raven and Octavia talking about the medical exam.

“Did you see the computers they had? All that amazing equipment was so advanced!” Clarke couldn’t help but gush, but stopped short when she saw Raven’s face. “What’s the matter, Rae?”

The brunette cast her eyes down, but Clarke could see tears starting to form in them.

“They said they could make me walk again in the Offshore. When I pass,” Raven said quietly.

“That’s great Raven! You could—“

“That’s what my mom always wanted. Not me!” Raven said hotly.

Octavia and Clarke exchanged a look. “She does know that if you go to the Offshore you won’t come back, right?”

“I would gladly pass just for that, O. But don’t you see? My wheelchair is part of me. I haven’t known much of life without it, in fact.”

Clarke leaned down so she was eye level with Raven, blocking others from hearing their conversation. She knew this was a tough thing for her friend, and wanted more than anything to be there for her. Raven’s mom was one of those adults who was weirdly devoted to the Process, and often drunkenly sang its praises to anyone who would listen.

Her mom had wanted nothing more than for Raven to be fixed after she was accidently caught in a gunfight as a child. Sinclair had done his best to help her by removing the bullet, but with her spine not fully grown, what started as a leg brace got progressively more painful and numb as Raven grew up, until her mom scavenged the old wheelchair for her. After that, though, her mom had become a slobbering drunk, wallowing in self-pity for being unable to protect or heal her only daughter. She sold almost all their food rations for booze. Now that Raven was older, she believed the Offshore was the only way for Raven to walk again and that she had to pass the Process to be “normal.”

“Remember what you told me when you went over a hole in the road that broke your wheel?”

“Clarke I was a kid—“

“No, hear me out. You said, ‘Even if my brain can’t make my legs work again, I’m still smart. I can fix this wheel and still be me.’ You were a kid, but you were right. Your wheelchair doesn’t define you, but it is part of you. We’ve always been taught that the Offshore is perfect. But you’re already perfect, Raven. And you know I will stick by you no matter what. Your mom is the imperfect one who stopped seeing you and started seeing your chair.”

A couple tears slipped down Raven’s face as she embraced Clarke. They held each other tight and Clarke could smell wheel grease and sawdust from Raven’s chair in her hair, even when the Process had tried to strip and sterilize their lives.

“You’re right,” Raven whispered, “In the Offshore I’ll fix their broken machines, and wheels and parts, but they can’t fix me. Because I’m. Not. Broken.” She sobbed out these words, bringing prickling tears to Clarke's eyes.

Octavia patted both of her friends on the back in an effort to soothe them, seemingly unsure what to say. They all looked up, trying to hide their emotions, when one of the Moderators ushered Lexa toward them.

“Lexa will join your group, since she is the last to get out of her exam.” She gestured to the people around them, making a counting motion. “You ten are all together, stay here.” She turned and walked away as other groups began to separate. In front of the long row of numbered doors, the Candidates were lined up, talking excitedly.

Clarke blinked back tears and looked at her companions for this test, and found both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Besides herself, Lexa, Raven, and Octavia, there was a boy named Finn who had dark, wild hair that flopped in his face when he looked around. There was also the Murphy kid who got beat up at lunch standing apart from the group, and the girl named Ontari with braided black hair from the cube test, and two other tall boys she didn’t know. They introduced themselves as Joseph and Milo. Another short boy with dull grey eyes was with them, and said his name was Cesar.

They awkwardly made small talk for a few minutes and Clarke turned her attention to Lexa. The striking girl seemed quiet and Clarke tried to engage her by asking if her exam went ok. She had been nervous for Lexa when she saw the machine had flagged her for a private exam.

Lexa seemed to regard her for a moment then said, “Yes, everything is fine. I’ll be moving forward since the doctor patched me up for a small injury I got back home.”

“Oh? Was it anything serious? The Offshore medicine is really advanced. My parents own the local clinic in our neighborhood.”

Lexa seemed to perk up at this and regarded Clarke with a more open expression. “I just cut myself on some metal. I had to sew myself up though, since I was far away from any help. Maybe I should have gone to your parents.”

Clarke realized she had given her the wrong impression. “My parents are in the Offshore actually, but I’m sure they would say you should be careful about trying to stitch yourself up alone.”

Lexa’s face seemed to darken at the mention of the Offshore, but only for a second. “Are you sure they are there?”

“Yes, my family has always passed,” Clarke said proudly, perhaps a little louder than she intended in front of the group.

“Hey, are you the Griffin for this year, then?” asked Finn. He had been talking to Raven and Octavia, but seemed keen on butting in. He looked at her with interest and gave her a big smile.

“Yeah, that’s why we call her Princess,” Octavia said with a smirk.

“And you know I hate that name,” Clarke muttered quietly, rolling her eyes.

Lexa’s mouth curved up slightly in what was almost a smile for the first time Clarke had seen since they passed the cube test, then she shrugged. “I haven’t heard of your family. But they must have been pretty great to make it to the Offshore.”

“I can’t wait to get there. I think we’re all going to be very different people by the time this is over, though. My parents told me you can’t expect to pass the early stages alone, in a letter they wrote when I was just a baby.”

“What other tips did they tell you in that letter, Clarke Griffin?” Lexa asked quietly, edging a little closer.

Clarke grinned, “None that I’d tell you right now, but maybe later we-“

“Candidates, please proceed to the numbered doors. All groups proceed to the doors and wait for further instructions,” the cool female announcement voice drifted from some nearby speakers.

“Is this it?” Murphy asked coming closer to the group.

“Yeah, that’s obviously it,” Octavia said with heavy sarcasm.

“Is this the guy?” Finn asked Raven.

“Yeah,” Raven said, indicating that they were talking about him.

“Oh, I see I already have some fans,” Murphy quipped, pulling open the door.

“Well, yeah, if it’s a cheating test, we’re all set,” Cesar joked.

Further conversation was cut off as their group was ushered through a door with a large red 8 on it. Inside, they found what seemed to be a life-like replica of a house. But it was a home unlike any Clarke had ever seen, even growing up somewhat privileged in the Inland. This was an Offshore home, complete with cream colored walls, a beige carpet, and huge floor to ceiling windows on the far wall. A holographic sea tossed beyond the glass, hitting a sandy headland. There were three rooms, each with heavy wooden furniture, polished and gleaming in the aesthetically placed overhead lights. Everyone took a moment to marvel at the sight.

A Moderator stepped in with them, a slim man in a blue shirt who briefly gestured around the room.

“You have one hour. As a group, you must decide what happened to the woman in blue, and what has influenced everyone’s actions. Analyze the scene and decide on the answer. When you have it, please press the button and state it.”

Clarke turned and saw the square, white call box behind her as the Moderator left.

“Everyone fan out, look through everything for clues,” she said in a commanding tone.

“Right Princess, whatever you say,” Octavia said, rolling her eyes.

Raven rolled herself toward the dining room. “These are some creeeepy dummies,” she observed with distaste.

Clarke went over to investigate. The dummies had flat, almost painted on faces and clothes that were very similar to those the Moderators wore. There was a woman sitting at the dining room table, holding her hand out to a man who was standing. Another man and woman were seated, the table set as though they were halfway through dinner. Fancy wine glasses, delicate cuts of meat, and green veggies were on each plate. Looking around, Clarke noticed that all the people were looking at the scared woman, except the other woman across the table.

Murphy came to stand beside her.

“She’s choking, or at least that’s what it looks like?” Clarke guessed.

“Wow, you figured it out on your own, congrats,” Murphy sassed.

“Just shut up Murphy,” Lexa said, and Clarke smiled at her across the table. Murphy was an ass and seemed to be so insecure with himself that he liked to throw biting comments at everyone like weapons. Lexa wasn’t having it, and Clarke added that to the list of things she liked about her.

“Anyway, they’re all looking at the woman in blue,” Lexa noted.

There was a pause as everyone looked around, trying carefully not to dislodge anything. Except for Milo, who plunked himself down on the couch and twirled a pencil between his fingers. They could see him through the open layout of the wide dining room entranceway.

“I have an idea: this couch is comfy,” he joked, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

“I wonder if all the houses in the Offshore have such ugly carpets,” Ontari joked back.

“Be serious,” Lexa admonished.

“I am,” Milo said with a smirk.

Octavia checked under the chairs, noting the mud on the shoes of two people, the seated man and the woman in blue. The group talked quietly amongst themselves. Clarke moved away to look for more clues. As she entered the kitchen proper, she noticed Lexa had already had this idea and was pulling out all the drawers. Clarke sidled up next to her.

“Wouldn’t you like to live in a house like this? Can you even imagine how nice it would be, just you and your husband living—“

Clarke was cut off by a derisive snort.

“What?”

“A husband? I don’t think so,” Lexa said as she opened another cabinet.

Clarke caught on, and her heart gave a little blip. “So you like girls then?”

Lexa swallowed and traced patterns on the bare countertop with her finger for a moment.

“I loved one. Her name was Costia.”

“Is she in the Offshore?”

“No. She’s dead. She was in some sort of…accident. During the Process last year,” Lexa choked out.

Clarke was taken aback. So this was why Lexa seemed so concerned about the Process being dangerous. Maybe that was why she was so upset before the medical exam. She lost the person she cared about, and now was trying to pass too. Clarke wondered what it could have been that eliminated her. People who failed were sent back home, so it must have been something else.

“Do you think she jumped, like—“

“I don’t know, Clarke. There no point in asking, either, ok? Just drop it,” Lexa growled. She balled her fist angrily, as though she wanted to punch the counter top.

“I’m sorry,” Clarke said hesitantly.

“Don’t be,” Lexa said, seemingly getting control over her emotions with some effort. “The dead are gone, Clarke. The living are hungry.”

Overhead, the cool female voice announced a string of candidate’s names: “Room 9: Wagner, Marian, Pedro, Oswaldo, Quaro, Raya, Clara, Ana, Francis, and Gabriel. You’re all eliminated. Thank you.”

“Guess they gave the wrong answer,” Murphy said from the other room with amusement. “10 less people passing means more spaces in the Offshore for me.”

“The answer is here, he just need to analyze carefully,” Raven said, pointedly ignoring him.

Clarke walked back into the hallway, ostensibly to look for more clues. Lexa felt like an ass, and sincerely regretted saying anything to Clarke. Worst still, the kitchen was empty. Fake food notwithstanding, there did not seem to be anything to do with the reason why the dummies were placed the way they were in here. Lexa rejoined the others, finding a tense situation in the living room.

“Well it would be helpful if you even cared, Milo,” Ontari was saying bitterly.

“Hey, I’m just saying you seem to have things under control,” the tall boy defended from his place on the couch.

“You’re useless,” Ontari said nastily.

Just then, from the overhead speaker again, everyone could hear the announcement. “Group 8, you have 45 minutes remaining. Candidate Milo Stone, you are eliminated for lack of participation. The guidelines for overcoming the trauma of elimination will be given to you when you return your uniform. We thank you for your dedication to the Process.”

“What?!” several people exclaimed.

“Oh to hell with this. Have fun, suckers,” Milo said, flipping them all the bird as he walked out.

“What was his problem?” Clarke asked as they all stood stunned.

“It was Ontari’s fault. If she didn’t antagonize him—“ Finn accused.

“I didn’t do shit,” the girl shot back.

“Ok, well, whatever you did, cut it out. We’re supposed to work together, and we just lost another person to help us.”

“We don’t need another person,” Raven said, “I know what happened here.”

Everyone turned to her in surprise, except for Cesar and Joseph, who were searching the bedroom.

“You do?” Lexa said, skeptical.

“Listen to me,” Raven started, holding up her hands to draw them in, “The woman in blue was poisoned. By the other lady.”

“Wait, the hostess?” Octavia asked.

“Yup, the couple with the mud on their shoes came for dinner, but they don’t live here. You might notice, though, that woman in blue is the only one with sauce on her plate. She was poisoned by the other woman. Notice that the woman in blue is reaching for the standing guy. But that’s not her husband; they’re having an affair. The hostess found out, she invited them over so she could woman poison her.”

Cesar came in, holding a chemical formula from the desk in the bedroom. “She’s right, this chemical formula must be the poison,” he said. Clarke always admired Raven’s smart ideas, and she felt pride that she was going to get them through this test.

Everyone looked in surprise at Raven, starting to see the clues she was seeing.

“Great job, Raven,” Finn praised, smiling wide at her, “It all makes sense.”

“See the woman’s face? She looks passive, because she doesn’t care that she murdered the woman. While the men are trying to help, the woman isn’t even looking at her.”

“Damn, Wheels!” Cesar said, “And I thought your cube made of cubes was genius!”

Raven looked down, seemingly a little embarrassed at the praise.

“So, do we know the answer? Who’s the best one to phrase this to the Moderators?” Octavia asked excitedly.

“Oh it should be Clarke. Since she wants be the leader all the time. We know how much you _love_ to be in charge,” Ontari teased as she left the room, and Cesar laughed with her.

“Alright, alright, jeez,” Clarke said. She strode over to the call box, but heard Murphy call out at the last second.

“Wait. Don’t!”

“Oh, here we go,” Lexa growled.

“Seriously?” What now?” Finn said testily.

“That solution is completely off target.”

“Oh yeah?” Raven challenged.

“Do you really think they would show us a scene about poisoning people and adultery in the Offshore?”

“You have a better idea, genius?” Clarke asked.

“I do, and you’re all morons.”

“Fine, what?”

“The woman wasn’t poisoned at all. She’s allergic to silver.” He said.

“What??” Everyone yelled at this preposterous conclusion.

“It’s true. Notice that everyone is wearing silver jewelry, a watch or a necklace or ring. Her necklace is wood, her ring made out of some kind of sea glass, and another ring made out of wood. But the flatware is silver, and she started eating without realizing it. Now her airway is closing and she’s reaching for the other man because he’s a doctor.”

Everyone was silent, unwilling to admit Murphy brought up some interesting points. Ontari came back into the room with medical charts from inside the bedroom desk. Ear, lung, and brain anatomy peeked out from her hands.

“Look, he’s right,” she said, with just a hint of a smirk.

“OK, but what about the sauce?” Raven asked.

“What about it? Maybe she’s the only one who liked red sauce on her steak. It doesn’t mean anything.” He pulled the other woman’s napkin off the table. “Besides, there’s some on her napkin. Do you really think she would eat her own poison?”

Joseph looked at. “Holy shit, he’s right.”

Murphy smiled, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

“Fine, the man could be doctor and those notes in his desk might be why she’s reaching for him, but what about the other woman? You haven’t explained why Miss Murder isn’t even reacting to the woman who is clearly dying!”

Ontari’s smile got even wider as she came to Murphy’s defense again. “She’s blind, that’s why.” She pulled out a book with raised bumps across the pages. “This was in the other desk.”

“Let me see that,” Lexa said curiously. She paused for a moment and thought it over. “The husband’s desk has a lamp on it. But hers doesn’t…”

“You never thought there would be people with disabilities in the Offshore, did you?”

Raven looked ashen faced, and gently rolled herself to the next room, shaking her head in disbelief. Finn followed her as Murphy strode confidently to the call box.

“Hello?”

There a moment’s pause, as everyone waited with him.

“Yes, what is your team’s answer?” came the Moderator’s voice.

“Uh, the woman in blue is choking because she has a silver allergy. The hostess is blind, and the husband is a doctor of medicine. Oh, and Ontari is right, this carpet is really hideous.”

No one laughed, and Ontari shuffled her feet.

There was another pause.

“Is that all? Does anyone in the group have a different theory?”

Everyone looked at Raven, who was staring up at the tossing holographic sea. She looked ashamed and angry, but didn’t want to distress the others by calling him out. And she had to agree some of his points made sense.

“Nah, it’s unanimous,” she muttered.

There was a pause from the Moderator’s end before he said, “You are correct.”

“Well done. Your team passes. I am very proud of you, and you deserve to pass for all your hard work. Please gather everyone and return to the main building,” came Jaha’s voice.

A collective sigh rang out, and everyone rushed the door.

Clarke turned to Lexa, who smiled widely at her over the shoulders of the others, and followed her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry my updates are so random, everyone! Thanks for all the kudos!!


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